Colleague of Freud and inspired by classical psychoanalysis
Believed that people were driven by the need for significance, self-worth, and social involvement
Focuses on present and future
Human Nature
First 5 years of life are most important
People are not victims to biology or heredity
What people make of their circumstances is more important
Mastery in ones own life helps to overcome feelings of inferiority
Family Constellation and Birth Order
Family constellation:
Examination of family constellations leads to a better understanding of a persons lifestyle
Each person plays a role in the family, determining the interactions within the family
Birth order: Oldest child:
Tend to be more intelligent, dependable, well organized, responsible, and conform to societal expectations
May be the center of attention until the second child comes along, causing feelings of jealousy
Second child:
Tend to be more caring, friendly, and expressive
Feels pressure to catch up to first born and may seek unconventional outlets to achieve success
Middle child:
Has the skills of the second child, but may feel lost, unloved, and neglected compared to their older and younger siblings
More than one middle child can increase the chance of becoming well adjusted
Youngest child:
Tend to be adventurous, easygoing, empathetic, sociable, and innovative
Considered to be spoiled, try hard to keep up with other siblings, and can be discouraged competing with their brothers/sisters
Only child:
Tend to enjoy being pampered, the center of attention, and mature faster
Only children may incorporate characteristics associated with the oldest and youngest child
Lifestyle
Lifestyle is defined as the unique way in which we seek to find out place in the world by overcoming feelings of inferiority and achieving our goals. Made up of 4 ingredients:
A persons subjective worldview, beliefs, values, inner narratives, expectations, and attitudes
Goals
Behavioral strategies used to help achieve goals and navigate life
Outcomes and consequences of behaviors
Fictional finalism:
Developed between ages 6-8
The image created by a person of what life will be like when goals are achieved
Usually unconscious
Private Logic
Our beliefs about ourselves and the world we live in that is based on our lifestyle
Private logic is subjective and can be faulty
Creates a pattern that is developed during childhood and influences our views on how we live
Will eventually be confronted by reality
Developed to help people overcome feelings of inferiority when interacting in a larger societal system
The goal is to help people understand their private logic and how it is getting in the way of their daily functioning
Treatment
Phase 1: Establishing the therapeutic relationship and setting goals
Discussing clients' goals, expectations, views of their issues, how they handle situations currently, and what caused them to seek treatment presently
Counselors encourage client's to show they care and develop a therapeutic alliance
Phase 2: Assessment, analysis, and understanding of the person and the problem
The initial interview and lifestyle interview help the counselor understand the client and their level of functioning
Assessing levels of satisfaction, their relationships, their lives, and trying to discover any faulty logic
Findings are summarized and help to shape the future of treatment
Phase 3: Reeducation, insight, and interpretation
Clinicians must be both encouraging and challenging, presenting interpretations in ways accepted by the client
Focus on the present rather than the past
More of a focus on consequences instead of unconscious motivation
Therapist help clients weigh their options and become more self-aware
Phase 4: Reorientation, reinforcement, termination, and follow-up
Clients view lives from a different perspective and use what they have learned to make better choices
Clinicians model and encourage optimism and flexibility so clients feel comfortable taking on new and rewarding challenges
Potential future barriers are addressed
Interventions
Catching oneself:
Clients learn how to develop an awareness of faulty logic and goals and acknowledge when old patterns begin to reemerge so they can reflect and redirect their behavior and responses
Example: A woman is afraid of speaking in public but has to give a presentation at work. She recognizes that her face gets warm when she is feeling anxious. She uses her physical symptoms to become aware of the fact that she is nervous and uses her breathing techniques that she learned in counseling to calm her down.
Pushing the button:
Clients develop a sense of awareness about their emotions so they can better control them
Example: A man is procrastinating his work. He is aware that he has two buttons to push. The first button is to do his work on time (healthy button). The second button is to wait until the last minute to get his work done (unhealthy button). The man decides to push the healthy button because he wants to feel confident and proud about his work and disassociate from the feeling of being stressed and having to rush.
Spitting in the client's soup:
Clinicians spoil the imagined payoff of self-defeating behaviors that the client has by identifying the underlying motivations for the behavior
Example: A teenager is mad at another student from school and wants to physically hurt them as revenge. The teen's counselor explains that by doing this the teen would get into trouble and the incident may show up when applying for college or future jobs. The teen then realizes that the actions he was planning on taking would actually hurt him in the long run and the idea of hurting the student is spoiled.
Immediacy:
Interactions between the client and the counselor become the main focus
Example: A woman blames others for the negative consequences that result from her behavior. During a counseling session she begins to place blame on the counselor because she doesn't feel like she is making any progress. The counselor helps the woman realize that she blames others because she is afraid of feeling like a failure.
Prescribing the symptom:
The client is asked to magnify the issue so they become aware of it and realize they are in control of changing it
Example: A child doesn't want to brush her teeth, so the counselor tells her that she should not brush her teeth anymore. The child then begins to brush her teeth everyday because she realizes it is silly not to brush her teeth or she is rebelling against what she was told to do.
Confrontation:
The counselor points out discrepancies
Example: A woman wants to spend more time with friends but decides to ignore all of their phone calls. The counselor asks the woman to help them understand her decision of not picking up the phone or calling her friends back if she wants to spend more time with her friends.
Task assignments:
Clinician and client agree on participating in planned activities to progress treatment and become more self-aware outside of counseling sessions
Example: The client and the counselor come up with the idea of writing in a journal twice a week about situations that caused anxiety. The client brings the journal to the counseling sessions to discuss what triggered those feelings and how she handled them.
Humor, silence, advice, and reflection of feelings
Builds therapeutic alliance and helps client with insight
Example: A woman is talking about how she moved away from her family for a job and she feels like she is left out. The counselor shows an understanding of why the client feels that way and suggests that the client look into finding a job that is closer to her family.